If your Fourth of July celebrations are anything like mine, you know that it wouldn’t be the same without a Fourth of July cookout! The smell of BBQ, sizzling, juicy meat cooking on the grill and the warm summer weather is the perfect combination to celebrate the Independence of our nation. If your family is celebrating the holiday with friends and neighbors, the best way to feed the crowd is by organizing a potluck. Fresh produce is plentiful this time of year, and everyone's likely to have a favorite summer salad or casserole to share. Here are some of my favorite, very easy to prepare, Fourth of July cookout items.

HOMEMADE LEMONADE
After helping cut the lemons, you may want to turn this recipe over to the kids--they tend to be the lemonade experts.

6 large lemons
1 cup sugar
2 qt. cold water

Slice the lemons in half and squeeze each of them into a large measuring cup. This should yield about 1 1/2 cups of juice. Remove any seeds.

In a large pitcher, combine the juice and the sugar. Stir in 2 quarts of cold water. Serve over ice. (For a nice touch, place mint leaves in the ice cube trays before freezing.) Serves 8 to 10.

AMERICAN FLAG CAKE
Mix up and bake your favorite cake mix or recipe. Let cool.
Slice 1 cup of strawberries, set aside. Halve remaining strawberries, set aside.
Top cake (in pan) with 1 cup sliced strawberries, 1 cup blueberries and all of the whipped topping. Arrange remaining strawberry halves and blueberries on whipped topping to create a flag design. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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Traditionally, this isn’t the holiday to go all out and spend hours on cooking. Instead one of the key ingredients to having a relaxing Fourth of July is to keep your barbeque or picnic simple. Many Americans dine in their backyards or on the beach with their grills hot. While menus have become more exotic, reflecting America’s diversity, some dishes still come to mind when one thinks of Independence Day. As far as beverages go, beer, soda pop, lemonade, and iced tea top the list. When it comes to food, easy-to-prepare items suggest themselves. For example, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, barbeque ribs, hotdogs, barbeque chicken, Cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, chips and dip, pies (especially apple), corn on the cob, and ice cream. So relax, put a little spark in your three day weekend with friends, family and some great food.
And for friends and family unable to celebrate with you, consider sending an American Cookie Basket from Susan’s Basket Store. Perhaps an American Glory gift basket would be appreciated. Red, white and blue is the theme of this delicious gift basket which contains Ghirardelli coffee, Monet mini gourmet crackers, Bruschetta bites, White cheddar popcorn, Sherwood wafer cookies, Venus wheat wafers, Brent and Sam’s white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, Brown & Haley’s Almond Roca, Nonni’s biscotti and Mrs. Fields milk chocolate chip cookies! This delicious gift basket will surely light up the face of your friend or loved one this July 4th weekend!